Vampires - Research Article from St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture

Vampires

No creature haunting Western society's collective imagination has proven more enduring, more compelling, or more alluring than the vampire. But it was only with the his transformation from emaciated, plague-carrying "nosferatu" (literally, "not dead") to suave, sexually appealing anti-hero that the vampire's status as pop cultural icon was assured. Authors and poets ranging from Byron, Goethe, Baudelaire, and Le Fanu to Poe, Wells, King, and Rice have made contributions to vampire lore. Dracula, the best-known and most resilient vampire, has appeared in more films than any other fictional character save perhaps for Sherlock Holmes. On television, vampires have starred in dramas (The Kindred, 1996), sitcoms (The Munsters, 1964-1966), soaps (Dark Shadows, 1966-1971), and countless made-for-television movies. On the radio, Orson Welles' portrayal of Dracula for The Mercury Theatre in 1938 became an instant classic. In addition, vampires have been made the subject of such cultural castoffs as stamps, comic books...